Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin believes that the direction of blockchain applications often mirrors the intentions and ethics of their creators. He cites that projects like Pump.fun are derived from bad social philosophy.

In a recent discussion, he highlighted how the impact—positive or negative—of crypto projects is shaped by the values driving their development.

Buterin praised a handful of decentralized applications that align with Ethereum’s long-term vision. These include Railgun, Farcaster, Polymarket, and the messaging app Signal.

On the flip side, he criticized platforms such as Pump.fun, Terra/Luna, and the collapsed FTX exchange, describing them as harmful examples of what not to build.

“The differences in what the app does stem from differences in beliefs in developers’ heads about what they are here to accomplish,” Buterin explained.

Railgun stood out as a key example. While it offers privacy features similar to Tornado Cash, it goes a step further by implementing Privacy Pools.

This system—co-developed by Buterin—allows users to stay anonymous while still proving their funds haven’t come from illicit sources.

Other projects Buterin praised include Farcaster, a decentralized social network protocol, and Polymarket, a crypto-based prediction platform.

In the past, he noted that tools like Polymarket could move beyond betting on elections and serve as useful mechanisms for improving decision-making in governance, media, and even scientific research.

Meanwhile, projects like Pump.fun—designed for launching memecoins on Solana—received harsh criticism.

Previously, the Ethereum co-founder had warned about schemes that prioritize hype over substance, such as Terra/Luna and FTX. He has also consistently urged the crypto space, especially DeFi, to build with ethical intent and long-term utility in mind.

To explain his views on Ethereum’s unique development path, Buterin compared it to C++, a general-purpose programming language.

Unlike C++, Ethereum is only partially general-purpose. Many of its core innovations, like account abstraction or the shift to proof-of-stake, rely heavily on developers’ commitment to Ethereum’s broader mission.

“Ethereum L1 is not quite in that position: someone who doesn’t believe in decentralization would not add light clients, or FOCIL, or (good forms of) account abstraction; someone who doesn’t mind energy waste would not spend half a decade moving to PoS… But the EVM opcodes might have been roughly the same either way. So Ethereum is perhaps 50% general-purpose,” Buterin said.

Buterin furthered that Ethereum apps are around 80% special-purpose. Because of this, the ethical framework and goals of the people building them play a critical role in shaping what the network becomes.

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